It has been an adventure for Sam Howell and the Washington Commanders in the 2023 NFL regular season, thus far. After winning back-to-back games to kick off their campaign, the Commanders now find themselves looking to prevent a three-game skid, as they prepare for a showdown in Week 5 at home versus the winless Chicago Bears.

Although the Bears are still without a win after four weeks of football, Howell is not one to take his foot off the pedal just because of an upcoming opponent’s record.

“They’re talented. Obviously, the record is what it is, but it’s definitely not a team you can take lightly,” the Commanders quarterback said about the Bears (h/t Washington’s website).

Howell also acknowledged what every NFL player should know about competing in the league — that there is no such thing as a gimme in the pros.

“There’s no easy games in the NFL and they have a lot of really good players on their defense and they fly around. They play hard and you can tell they want to win and it’s definitely a challenge for us and we definitely have our hands full. They do a lot of good stuff schematically on defense as well. It’s definitely a tough defense. Every defense in the NFL is tough to play against, so you definitely got to be ready to go and you got to prepare. We’re excited for the challenge.”

The Commanders are still in good shape amid their recent losses. In their last outing, they nearly pulled off an upset victory on the road against the reigning NFC champions Philadelphia Eagles but fell short in overtime to absorb a 34-31 defeat.

Commanders’ Sam Howell trending up again after bad performance vs. the Bills

Sam Howell, Commanders, Bears

The Commanders signal-caller was able to rebound from a brutal performance in Week 3’s loss to the Buffalo Bills at home by passing for 290 yards and a touchdown with zero interceptions on 29-for-41 completions. He still got sacked five times, but it was perhaps more emblematic of Washington’s subpar pass protection. On the season, Howell has passed for 961 yards and four touchdowns with five picks thrown, while connecting on 67.1 percent of his pass attempts.